Willow Tree Fen

A cold and sparkling morning for a walk around Willow Tree Fen, one of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's newest nature reserves, created in an area that was recently arable land. 

The Willow Tree Fen restoration is part of a wider restoration project by the South Lincolnshire Fenland Partnership, which aims to restore and re-create up to 800 hectares of Lincolnshire's lost wild fenlands between Bourne and Market Deeping. Habitat restoration will include areas of wet grassland utilised for grazing and hay production, reedbeds, swampland, wet woodlands and open water. Working with local landowners, farm tenants, the mineral industry and local communities, the project partners are seeking to create a sustainably managed landscape in which wildlife and people will thrive.


It was a very pleasant walk, though some of the paths were shallowly flooded, which meant that we ended up crunching through the ice and getting rather cold and wet feet! Sadly, wildlife was rather thin on the ground, possibly because much of the shallow water was frozen, but Chris and I certainly felt well exercised by the time we returned to the car.